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iDMC | 12.2017

Our second report on internal displacement in Africa highlights the severity of the continent’s continuing displacement crisis. Published to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the African Union’s Kampala Convention, the report provides new and compelling evidence for action and calls for a new approach to displacement that addresses its causes and longer-term implications, as well as its immediate humanitarian consequences.

Key messages:

• Africa’s decades-long displacement crisis demands a renewal of the political will and leadership that African governments demonstrated when they agreed to the Kampala Convention in 2009.
• National and international partners must work collectively across mandates and institutional barriers to deal more systematically not only with the immediate consequences of internal displacement, but also its causes and longer-term impacts.
• In addition to the immediate triggers of displacement, such as conflict and floods, its underlying drivers, such as poor governance, environmental degradation, unemployment and inequality also need to be examined
• A number of relatively new “megatrends” have been identified as significant drivers of displacement, including urbanisation, water scarcity, food insecurity and other adverse effects of climate change. Some are likely to affect Africa disproportionately.
• Displacement is ultimately a result of, and will have an impact on, a range of social, political and economic processes that determine not only the wellbeing of individuals and communities, but also national prosperity.
• Displacement associated with both conflict and disasters is linked to people’s vulnerability, which is heightened by factors such as poverty, inequality, instability and environmental degradation. Displacement in turn contributes to such factors, disrupting markets and livelihoods, undermining access to socioeconomic opportunities, putting stress on available resources and weakening the resilience of those affected.
• Displacement is reversing current development gains and threatens the achievement of future development objectives in Africa, including the Sustainable Development Goals. Dedicated policies to address the phenomenon, targeted support for IDPs and their hosts and a focus on helping them to achieve durable solutions would contribute to the accomplishment of development goals.